Middle East & Africa | Sea change

Joe Biden puts the Houthis back on America’s baddies list

A president who wanted to end the war in Yemen now has his own conflict there

An armed Yemeni sits on a boat. The Galaxy Leader cargo ship, a vessel seized by the Houthis in November, is anchored in the background.
Photograph: Shutterstock
|DUBAI

IT IS enough to cause whiplash. Three years ago America removed the Houthis from its list of foreign terrorist groups over the objections of Saudi Arabia, which was fighting a war against the Shia rebel group in Yemen. Now it is putting the Houthis back under broad sanctions and bombing them—while the Saudis are trying to make peace with the group.

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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Sea change”

From the January 20th 2024 edition

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